Lily Allen has said she is “riding a wave of terror and excitement” after making her West End debut.
The singer, 36, plays the character of Jenny in 2:22 – A Ghost Story, a supernatural thriller about four friends caught up in a night of high tension.
She stars in the show at the Noel Coward Theatre alongside EastEnders star Jake Wood, City Of Angels actor Hadley Fraser and Julia Chan of Silent House.
Discussing her first two shows in the production, she told the PA news agency: “I’m pretty much riding a wave of terror and excitement pretty constantly at the moment. And tiredness.”
However she said it has been a “great experience so far” and has given her a “real routine, which I’m not actually used to”.
Allen said it is a “very different experience in terms of the kind of performance that you’re giving and the relationship with the audience”, compared with what she is used to in music.
“There’s obviously a fourth wall that exists in theatre that doesn’t exist when you are doing pop concerts and you are trying to engage the audience in a completely different way,” she said.
“I have to kind of stop myself from looking out the whole time, because it’s something that I’m really used to in terms of performing to a crowd, and usually there’s an active dialogue with the audience as well.
“So I kind of have to tell myself to get back in my box.”
Allen said she feels she is “using completely different muscles in my brain to the ones that I’m used to using”.
“That’s why I decided to do this, I wanted to do something completely new, I wanted to test myself and challenge myself and it certainly is turning out to be that,” she said.
“But it’s great, I honestly can’t complain, I’m really, really enjoying it and everyone else has been so generous and patient and kind with me.”
